Improved steel beam



RICHARD MONTGOMERY, or NRW YORK, N. Y. Letters Pateat`No. 87,278, dated Februar/ry 23, 1869.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all lwhom 'it mtl/y concern.-v

Be it known that I, RroHARD MONTGOMERY, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Corrugated or Folded Steel Bars or Beams; and I do herebydeclare the following to be 'a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 isl a perspective view ofia portion of my improved corrugated steel bars or beam;

Figure 2, a transverse-section thereof; and

Figures 3 and 4, transverse -sections of modified forms of my folded or corrugated steel bars or beams.

^ The nature of my invention consists in the production of a.longitudinally-corrugated or folded bar or beam of steel, by passing a4 pile or bloom of steel between suitable rolls, constructed specially for the purpose, whereby I unite the advantages to be derived from the great strength of this metal, with the important advantages found in a longitudinally-corrugated or folded form thereof, in supporting weight or resisting strain.

It is well known that a bar or beam of metal, bent or rolled to present one or more longitudinal, flat, and parallel sides, connected by inverted orv un'inverted arches, will possess the greatest amount of transverse strength, and consequently support a greater amount of weight or pressure, in comparison with its own weight, than a bar or beam of any other-form.

' The object of my invention is to combine with this superior form and disposition of the metal, the superior advantages found in steel, and thereby produce a new article of manufacture and use, and hereinconsists its novelty, as heretofore all attempts to obtain this result have wholly failed.

My improved steel bars or beams are manufactured by rapidly passing a pile or bloom of steel, at a suitable temperature, successively through or between grooves or forming-spaces, between metallichfolls,

whereby the bar is gradually but continuously reduced and shaped into the longitudinally-grooved, corp are carried longitudinally, there can be no cross-grain therein, whilst the process of their manufacture tests the metal severely vat every point, so that the least tlaw, defect, or weakness therein, is at once apparent, whereas the corrugated bars heretofore used, made from sheet-metal moreer less laminated, are without fibre, and not only lacking in tensile strength, but also subject to all the defects of the metallic plates fromv which they are constructed.

'lhese steel bars are of singular value for railwayrails, as they possess not only immense endurance, but also such elasticityas to prevent almost entirely the rough shocks caused by the least unevenness in an iron rail, or in its support upon a roadway, whichare so destructive not onlyto the rolling stock of the road, but to the rail itself.

Their elasticity also prevents them from spreading, as would be the case more or less with an iron rail of the same form, and hence increases the safety of the road.

The singular lightness of my improved bars, in comparisony with their strength, is another most important and lvaluable feature thereof'.

Vith greater elasticity, and far greater endurance, a corrugated bar of steelvmade, as herein described, will sustain a Weight which would bend a wrought-iron bar of the same corrugated form'one-third heavier, or-of the ordinary rect-angular form, of twice its Weight. Hence these improved bars are especially adapted foil the construction of elevated railways, where a reduction of the Weight of the superstructure lis ofthe greatest importance, as well as for use as beams in the construction of bridges, and for the support-of floors and roofs in all manner of buildings.

The superior surface of theV steel, presenting a lm or coat which does not readily oxidize, increases its durability as compared with iron when exposed to the air, and oders an additional advantage in favor of the steel bar..

Having thus fully described my invention,

Iclaim, as a new article of manufacture, and desire to secure by Letters Patent- A longitudinally-corrgated steel bar or beam, produced substantially as herein described.

Witness my hand, this 23d day of January, 1869.

R. MON TGOMERY.`

Witnesses:

DAVID A. BURR, WM. H.`Rown. 

